Thursday, September 04, 2008 City gets P22M grant for SRP By Linette C. Ramos Sun.Star Staff Reporter
AFTER showing interest in the South Road Properties (SRP), the Asian Development Bank (ADB) approved a $500,000 grant to the Cebu City Government for technical assistance on the SRP’s utilities.
City Administrator Francisco Fernandez said the ADB already approved the grant and is just waiting for the City to submit documents related to the SRP before it sends technical experts to conduct the studies.
The grant covers technical and feasibility studies by “world-class” consultants who will help the City set up the facilities for water and power supply, waste management, mass transportation and other utilities within the 290-hectare SRP.
The studies will also include the proposed Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) system in the industrial, tourism, residential and commercial complex.
In his news conference yesterday, Mayor Tomas Osmeña confirmed the grant amounting to $499,000 or some P22.5 million.
He said the City has several other grants from the United States Aid for International Development (USAID) and the Japan Bank for International Cooperation (JBIC).
“We have all kinds of grants from JBIC, USAID and ADB. We will work on all of these so we will get the best possible solution,” he told a news conference.
Interest
Fernandez said the aid from ADB was processed quickly, apparently because of the latter’s interest in the SRP.
ADB officials first came to City Hall in late July to discuss with the mayor possible funding assistance to the City Government, particularly for SRP’s utilities.
“These are world-class consultants and they already said yes, they have approved the $499,000 funding and it’s now up to the City to provide the requirements before they can start,” the city administrator said.
During the regular session of the City Council yesterday, it passed a resolution authorizing the mayor to enter into and sign the technical assistance agreement with Cities Development Initiative for Asia, represented by Michael Linfield, also the ADB program manager.
The agreement is for the development plan of the SRP.
“Paspas kaayo ang development on the negotiations because they are interested to be part of the SRP. If the project is good, everybody is interested to be a part of it,” Fernandez added.
The city administrator recently said the City has received proposals to buy part of the SRP which, if realized, could fetch as much as P3.2 billion. (LCR)
